How to Enable Beats Audio Subwoofer Audio on a HP Laptop in Ubuntu/Linux

This guide/how to is written from the perspective of a Ubuntu user, but the concept should work across a wide variety of Linux distributions. It has been confirmed to work in Fedora Linux at least, as well as Ubuntu. I am personally using Kubuntu 15.10.

This should work for all HP/Hewlet-Packard branded laptops, and has been confirmed to work in the Pavilion (DV6, DV7, etc) and Envy series. My laptop is an HP Pavilion DV6-7010US.

1. You will need to download alsa-tools-gui (Ubuntu/Kubuntu), which may also be called something similar to hda-jack-retest in other distributions. In Ubuntu/Kubuntu, copy and paste the following in to a terminal to install it:

sudo apt-get install alsa-tools-gui

To run the application we’ll need, type the following in to terminal:

hdajackretask

2. Now you will want to select the codec that goes to your internal sound card functions. On my DV6-7010US that is the IDT 92HD91BXX codec. You will know it when you see a lot of speaker functions like internal mic and internal speaker listed (greyed out).

3. Check the box next to “show unconnected pins”. Steps 4-6 may vary for different models.

4. Override 0x0d (Internal Speaker, Front side) to “Internal speaker”

5. Override 0x0f (“Not connected” but is the under-display speakers) to “Internal speaker”

6. Override 0x10 (“Not connected” but is the subwoofer) to “Internal speaker (LFE)”

7. Click “Apply Now”. You may get an error about a device being in use or not being present. It is up to you if you would like to proceed with step 8 anyway. In my case, I did, and it worked regardless.

8. Click “Install Override” and reboot.

Now you should have a fully functional subwoofer with your Beats Audio speakers on your HP/Hewlett-Packard branded laptop in Ubuntu/Kubuntu Linux. You may notice that the sound now sounds a lot louder, richer, and crisper! 🙂